Britain is to push for car manufacturers to be given more time to comply with tough new carbon dioxide emissions standards, The Times has learnt.

Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, will urge the European Union to adopt a target of 100g of CO2per kilometre for the average new car between 2020 and 2025.

The European Commission has proposed a target of 120g/km by 2012, which would require immediate action by the car industry to reduce engine size and the weight of vehicles.

Ms Kelly’s intervention will dismay green groups, who argue that the absence of compulsory short-term targets has resulted in slow movement towards improving car efficiency. Last year, the average new car in the EU produced 160g/km, down only 0.2 per cent on the previous year.

In an interview with The Times, Ms Kelly said that manufacturers needed more time to develop new designs. She said that British companies such as Aston Martin and Bentley, which produced relatively small numbers of high-emission cars, needed to be protected from European regulations on emissions due to be agreed next year.

“It’s important for the European Union to go further by looking beyond the short term. The longer-term target will give the industry time to plan and aid development of new technology. We need to recognise that cars have product-development cycles and we need to study what the industry is capable of delivering by when.”

She said the target that Britain is proposing would cut carbon emissions by 15 megatonnes a year by 2020. A spokesman for The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said: “The kneejerk target of 2012 is unrealistic and unfeasible. A 2020 or 2025 target would give us time to plan.”

Times Recommends

• Darling under pressure on record public debt
• Mortgage drought deepens on 32% lending fall
• Oil prices firm after 10% drop to below $130